Shloka 52
नरक-निर्णयः, पाप-कर्म-फल-व्यवस्था, प्रायश्चित्त-क्रमः, तथा हरि-स्मरण-परमत्वम्
एवम् एतन् मयाख्यातं भवतो मण्डलं भुवः पातालानि च सर्वाणि तथैव नरका द्विज
evam etan mayākhyātaṃ bhavato maṇḍalaṃ bhuvaḥ pātālāni ca sarvāṇi tathaiva narakā dvija
इस प्रकार मैंने आपको पृथ्वी के पूर्ण भु-मण्डल का, तथा समस्त पातालों का और वैसे ही नरक-लोकों का वर्णन किया है, हे द्विज।
Sage Parāśara
FAQs
In this verse, Bhū-maṇḍala is presented as a complete mapped “earth-circle,” forming the foundation for the Purana’s ordered vision of the universe and its moral-spatial structure.
He frames them as part of a systematic cosmological account—netherworlds (Pātālas) and hells (Narakas)—told sequentially to Maitreya as an integrated description of the universe.
Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Vishnu Purana’s cosmology is implicitly grounded in Vishnu’s supreme governance, where all realms—earth, netherworlds, and hells—exist within divine order.